Scene Around the Track

Yeah I thought it looked like an Eastern European or Soviet design. Not that well versed on them but since you found it it’s in South georgia, that confirms what I was suspecting. Thank you.

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Hi all,

Great idea for a thread Fred, some amazing pictures from all who have contributed thus far, :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:.

For my part I’ve been considering the image below for sometime as I have some left over 00/H0 track from my dockside diorama.

I need to somehow compress it so that it fits my self-imposed A4 base limitation.

I’m thinking partial bridge and embankment, the facades of a pair of Victorian semi’s, pavement and road.

If I go ahead it’ll be set during the WW2 blitz, maybe half the semi bomb damaged, and for variation in height a pit dug around an unexploded German bomb.

Might be a challenge to far for my limited skills, if only we could magic our imaginings into 3D reality, :roll_eyes: :wink:.

Cheers, :beer:,

G

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There are some great buildings being demolished in HO. Can’t remember who does them but it’s a European company. Definitely not a British look though. I had them on the old East German diorama I was working on. Even well into the 80’s they hadn’t yet fixed a lot of the damage from the war.

Yes, agree, this would be a very interesting diorama

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Gang, for better or worse I still exist. ( Just seems this packing and moving will never end. SWMBO is part-time but they are working her 40+ hours and she is exhausted, and I and hacking away best I can.)

Last week on some back roads of the Texas Panhandle eastbound. Between Childress and Quanah is an outer-braced (single sheath) wood boxcar along the tracks. Looked to be in good shape. Then between Quanah and Altus is another one. And a third later, though I don’t recall where. Took some photos but my main PC I loaded them on, the battery died so dead that it will not stay on even plugged in. Must await a new battery before I can show the pix.

18Bravo, like what you posted, I also saw a hopper used as an elevated storage container at a farm. Also ATSF.

Between silos along siding at Kirkland, TX.

Faller makes three:
130466

976758

232396

The last one may be the same as the top image, but a different scale.

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I pass that boxcar on Highway 287 almost twice every month. Good luck finding a sports bar in either of those two towns, especially on a Sunday. A few weeks ago I wanted to watch the Boyz on the way back from Colorado. I had to stop in Vernon and watch in a Holiday Inn until the half, when I found a really good Mexican place called Arquitos about a mile away with the game on. In case no one has noticed by now, I like to give shout outs to good places. This place had extremely good steak fajitas. I even took a tub of their pinto beans home. Next time I’ll have to try their pozole.
There’s a lot of good RR related things to see on that drive, to be sure.

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Oh wow, sounds like I missed a lot. My GPS told me to take 287 and then stay north of DFW until I got to Paris and then texarkana. It said going on I-30 through Arkansas would save me about 15 miles and 10 minutes on my trip. I remember that the interstate through a lot of Arkansas is concrete slabs and was rough. I had some large artwork stacked up in the back of my car and I did not want to jostle it anymore than I had to. So I cut up through Oklahoma to OK City and went that way on 40. Found more concrete pavement than I wanted to along that route but it was more or less smooth. Looking back on it, I wish I taken 287 to Texarkana. But what I had really planned to do is take the highway from Lubbock through Crosbyton, and down towards Jacksboro, just north of the Brazos river. That’s the route I’ve been wanting to take for a long time. Why? I don’t know. Just do. I know that the Fort Worth and Western railroad went up through that way. I can’t remember if it made it to Seymour or not. But I did sacrifice about three and a half hours and I went to Paducah Texas and then up to Quanah. I wish now that I take the extra time to drive down to Guthrie and at least catch a glimpse of the brazos. But time that I needed for that I instead went up to Palo Duro Canyon.

No Sports along the way but I listen to several hours of YouTube videos about aircraft and performance figures. There was a lot of time that I was just in pure thought. I was telling a friend of mine that there are hours that are just missing time where I just zoned out and focused on keeping the car out of the ditch but otherwise didn’t do or think much of anything else. It was a long 3 days.

I’ll give a shout out to Ella’s Cafe in Reserve, New mexico. Nice little place, huge amount of delicious food. I got there just as they were closing but they were nice enough to let me in. The owner said out there and talked to some of us for a while. Interesting guy.( In a good way. )

But the trip through the Arizona and New Mexico wilderness took a bit longer than anticipated because of a lot of the gas stations GPS said we’re ahead of me, turned out to be out of business. So I stopped frequently to make sure that my car had a full tummy of petroleum.

I have probably ten separate and distinct routes getting to Denver or Fort Carson. Some involve taking 287 almost the entire way, two involve cutting across to Raton (one by way of Channing) and there’s the variant that takes me all the way to Salina, KS and busting a big left on I-70. I’ve even taken both I-20/I-10 or I-40 over to I-25 and driven north (ish). Each route has its plusses and minuses. For trains, old cars, and cool old towns, taking 287 most of the way is the way to go without going unreasonably out of the way. But what’s unreasonable? The one good photo can make a 100 mile detour worth it.
If you’re interested in the FWWR I can take some photos of the current locomotives for you. Mainly they seem to be GP-38’s and SD-40’s although I have seen a few others. Back in the day, around '92 or so, I was only familiar with the CF-7 that rolled near Fort Worth. It was an old cut down F-7 and pulled a couple of Pullman cars. I even rode it once. I haven’t even seen that locomotive in many years. It’s probably been retired. If you need photos of that one I have a few as I had planned on building it from a CF-7 shell I purchased. Somewhere along the way I lost interest, but I still have it boxed up somewhere.
It would not surprise me If I have been to Ella’s. If so I’m sure I had something with green chili slathered on it - eggs, a burger, a steak… I used to frequent that whole area a long time ago. Even rode an FZR1000 all the way to Taos. I mention the make because if you know the bike you’ll know it was not a comfortable ride.

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You convince me that I should have taken 287 and stayed away from oklahoma. Maybe I’ll have another chance to drive that way someday? What I did see along the back roads from Shamrock to Paducah and Paducah to Quanah, I regret not driving the route along the Brazos. And yeah the towns. I’ve looked through some of them on google, and I’d like to see them in person. But I am a fan of shortlines and there is something about the Quanah Acme & Pacific that i like, and i had to visit Paducah Texas because I’m from Paducah, KY. So not a complete wash.

C.2005 i rode the Durango and Silverton. On the way back I stopped for dinner in Cuba, NM. Vacation was making me a bit portly so I ordered the half burrito. They brought it out and the thing was as big as my thigh! First time I ever saw green chili offered and got it. Green chile has been my go-to ever since. I wonder if that place is still open?

I looked up the motorcycle. Looks like a fun ride. Said it was the top motorcycle for a long time. I imagine it was hard on the back side.

Yeah if I could get some pictures of the Fort Worth and western, I’d appreciate that. Back in the steam days it did not look like the most prosperous streak of rest, but something about it appealed to me. Kind of like the Roscoe Snyder and pacific.

I didn’t have a lot of money most of my life, so I always got the best my money could buy. Better to get the one good thing you really want than settle for something less. I know there are guys on here with Nortons and other exotic machines, and I truly am envious. But I’ve owned bikes that were revolutionary, or best in class at that time. The CB750 Super Sport, (two) the original GSX1100 Katana, the FZR 1000, the V65, (two) the Scout, or the Daytona 675R. It’s funny, now that I have money, I’ve bought some real questionable bikes - CB500T (two) Harley (Aermacchi) X-90, etc. And ultimately, if it has two wheels I’ll ride the hell out of it and have fun. Kinda like a fat girl. Lots of fun until your friends find out.

I’ll search for those older photos tomorrow. Next time I go to the track in Cresson I’ll look for some newer FWWR locomotives. I haven’t checked, but I imagine by now someone must do decals for them.

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I wonder if Oddball decals has decals for them? I wonder if Oddball is still in business? I haven’t looked at for a site in probably 10 or 15 years. Time is just getting away from me.

Last time I drove a motorcycle it would have been 1981 or 82, my college girlfriend’s. She had a Yamaha of what I thought was an odd displacement, like a 270 or 260 or something. I was used to Honda’s where everything was in hundreds or hundred fifties. Except for a Honda 70, which is what I grew up riding.

There are decals available for the FWWR. I haven’t decorated a locomotive in years, but I know I have some undecorated shells in my attic. Not sure of what, but I always had a thing for GP-9’s and GP-38’s.

A couple of unfinished projects from way back in the day.

Decals ordered. My Chihuahua’s name would lead you to believe she’s a sweetheart. Wrong. But the name of number of the locomotive I’m doing is a no brainer.

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I found exact color matches for the blue and yellow. Good thing I searched - I assumed it was ATSF blue and ATSF yellow but I was wrong. So now waiting on paint and decals. I also had to order two more GP-38’s. The extra ones I had did not have the dynamic brake housings as in the above photo.
I also wondered about the name - Miss Molly. The other FWWR locomotives all have a historical or geographically tied in name - General Worth, General Tarrant, Cowtown, Butch Cassidy.
Turns out Miss Molly’s was a bordello downtown. It’s now a B&B. We’re making reservations.

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Making reservations at Miss Molly’s, I’m glad it’s now a B&B lol!

Good that you found the right paint. Whose paint brand are you using? When I came back from Phoenix couple of weeks ago, I brought back a box of paint from Tru-Colors. Went and visited them again at their factory. Had them special mix a couple of colors for me. Looking forward to spraying them asap. But I got back on the 11th and I haven’t even sent them their check yet. I got to let him know it’s going in the mail today. :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:

FWW looks like a cool railroad. Texas Pacifico runs along the former Orient. The original Fort Worth and Western struck out from Fort Worth Northwest bound and I can’t remember if it made it to Guthrie or Seymour or beyond. I recall it was a subsidiary of The Frisco system. But I don’t know if that’s how it started out, and not sure it lasted into World War II.

The colors are indeed Tru-Color. Let me know how the spraying goes. A “hot” acrylic sounds like I’ll need a good primer to protect the plastic.
FWWR started out in '88 or '89 I think with that one CF-7. They’ve grown quite a bit since then. I see them quite a bit in Cresson. Miss Molly apparently makes runs out to Dublin, so I’ll have to take the wife out on another bike trip. Dublin is the home of the original Dr. Pepper bottling plant, but now it’s become a craft soda bottler. They make a Cream Soda that is worth a one hour and forty five minute ride. An alternate route would take me through Cresson, where the race track is, so a good photo trip all the way around.
Thankfully I found this:


Those fans belong to a GP-35. Turns out Miss Molly, a GP-38-3, was rebuilt from an old GP-35. I was going to build it from a GP-38 until I found this. I found the roof A/C units online. Since the decals are enough for two locos, I ordered two A/C sets.
Little Miss Molly is worn out:

I found my CF-7 shell. Might be time to start a new thread.


It turns out Athearn did FWWR’s original CF-7, but they botched the color badly. Even so I’d have been happy to purchase one, but it has proven quite impossible to locate.

I have a European FaceBook friend whose hobby is colorizing old ship photos.
This image is from one of his latest posts.


Colorized by Gokhan Arican

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